John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to follow up on the call by Senator Warfield for a debate on emigration. The Senator and I are a similar age. When we were maybe 18 or 19, people were emigrating from this country in their droves. They were doing that because there was no employment in this country. There were physically no jobs in this country. Today in Ireland, we are at full employment. People emigrate for a variety of reasons. With all due respect to Senator Warfield, he outlined that housing was one of the biggest reasons people were leaving Ireland to go to Australia.

I have had a quick glance at some Australian headlines in the past six months. "No-one can escape the housing crisis" in Australia, said ABC News in November 2023. "Australia property crisis deepens with soaring house prices" and people forced into poverty, said Bloomberg in December 2023. The housing crisis is pushing "more and more Australians into deep poverty," The Guardiansaid in July 2023. "Australia's housing crisis is a warning for the world," said Bloomberg in September 2023. Within those articles, one finds that 90% of first-time buyers are unable to buy a home in Australia. Let us compare that to the 400 first-time buyers in Ireland who are buying homes today under this Government. There was a 22% increase in Australian house prices between April 2021 and April 2022. Let us compare that to an increase in prices here in this country. Renting a one-bed in Sydney costs AUD3,000, which is €1,800. In Melbourne, it is AUD2,500, which is €1,513. In Perth, it is AUD2,000, which is €1,211. Let us compare that to my county of Louth. In the past year, we have built 1,118 units, the year before, it was 809 while the year before that, when half the country was closed down with Covid, it was 1,002. We are building homes in this country, and my God, things are not greener on the other side when one talks about Australia and housing prices there.